Starving siblings found chained to beds

THIRTEEN siblings have been discovered shackled to their beds amid foul surroundings in a California home.

Two parents have been arrested and charged after a 17-year-old girl escaped from the residence in Perris early on Sunday morning.

Local police said she called officers from a mobile phone she took from the home.

ABC reports that the teen told the emergency operator that she and her 12 siblings were being held captive in their home by their parents.

Investigators from the Perris Police Department and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department met with the girl, they said she looked emaciated and only 10 years old, even though she was 17.

After interviewing the girl, investigators contacted her parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, at the home from where the teenager escaped.

"Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner," a police statement read.

"The victims appeared to be malnourished and very dirty," the statement continued.

"All 13 victims, ranging from the age of two to 29, were transported to the Perris Station and interviewed.

"Both parents were detained and transported to the station for further investigation.